Gutless stooges.

At-risk Republicans push for swift end to Senate trial

“I have two priorities, one is get the president reelected and keep the majority in the Senate,” said Sen. David Perdue.

By MARIANNE LEVINE

The pressure to end the debate in the president’s impeachment trial is coming from a closely watched contingent: Senate Republicans up for reelection in battleground states.

While Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has said she favors hearing more evidence and witnesses — which would lengthen the trial — the majority of Republican senators up in 2020 are urging the Senate to wrap it up.

“We’ve had 17 witnesses, from the House,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said in an interview. “We do hear from people back home, but they’re like, ‘get this over with.’ That’s what I’m hearing, is that we really need to wrap this up and get the American people's business done.”

“I have two priorities, one is get the president reelected and keep the majority in the Senate,” added Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.).

Meanwhile, two GOP senators from purple states, Cory Gardner of Colorado, who is up for reelection, and Martha McSally of Arizona, who was appointed by Gov. Doug Ducey in December 2018 and is running to keep the seat in a special election in November, released statements Wednesday saying it’s time to move on. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) also reiterated this week that he has “no problem, whatsoever, with voting ‘no’ on witnesses.”

The Senate is expected to hold a contentious vote on witnesses Friday.

The senators’ comments illustrate they’re not caving to pressure from Democrats who argue that public opinion polling supports their calls for witnesses. Their resistance to bringing in additional witnesses and documents highlight they'd rather spend their time talking about issues other than the present's impeachment trial. A vote for witnesses is also viewed as a break with Trump and could alienate his base.

Senate Democrats have made a concerted effort to push for witnesses during the impeachment trial, including Bolton and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. The New York Times reported Sunday that Bolton revealed in his upcoming book that Trump told him directly that he withheld almost $400 million in aid to Ukraine to pressure the country to help investigate his political rivals. But so far only three Republicans — Collins, Mitt Romney of Utah and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — have suggested that they’re open to hearing from Bolton. Only Collins is up for reelection this year.

Romney said Wednesday he’s made his views clear and that his colleagues can make their own decisions.

Most Republicans argue, however, that they should not have to consider evidence that the House did not have when it impeached Trump in December.

“They’re all in a no-win position,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) “Vote against the president on witnesses, they are going to lose a whole bunch of support amongst the base. That’s real. So I think some of them are probably choosing the lesser of two evils. They get hurt politically no matter what they choose.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) declined to speculate at a recent news conference whether a vote against witnesses would hurt Republicans facing reelection in 2020, saying only: “We’re looking at the truth, and we’re gonna let the chips fall where they may.”

Of the Republicans up in 2020, only Collins has indicated since the start of the impeachment trial that she’d likely want to hear from witnesses, as she did during the 1999 Clinton impeachment trial.

“I’ve said from the beginning that I felt that it was likely that we would need to call a couple of witnesses, treating each side fairly in order to clarify some ambiguities, answer some questions,” she said Wednesday. “And that remains my position.”

During a private lunch this week, some Senate Republicans up in 2020 warned that prolonging the trial would only tie them up and keep them from working on other issues, according to an attendee. And Gardner said during another closed-door meeting that Democrats were politicizing the trial, and cautioned “the longer this goes on and [is] used as a political tool, the more it divided the country,” according to his spokesperson.

Democrats, in their push for witnesses, have repeatedly argued the public is on their side. A recent Quinnipiac University poll found that 75 percent of registered voters want the Senate to allow witnesses in the impeachment trial. That includes half of Republican voters. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, however, points to newly released data from Arizona, Colorado, Maine and North Carolina, that found 62 percent of voters want Congress to focus on issues like health care or trade, instead of impeachment.

Senate Republicans are pushing back on the idea that a vote against witnesses would hurt senators up for reelection this year, noting that even if Bolton testified it wouldn’t change the outcome of the trial.

“Now that we’ve seen the case, most of the people running see that the case is shoddy, it’s circumstantial and that it would beg the question why others in the conference are maybe struggling with what to do,” Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) said.